Belkin today brought back what it called "the best-selling router of all time" but with the latest wireless technology. The blue and black WRT54G was first released in December 2002. Belkin's Linksys division unveiled a new router with the same design today at the Consumer Electronics Show. It has planned to be available in the spring for $299.99.

What is different is that it has been updated to support the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard. According to a press release the "Linksys WRT1900AC Dual Band Wi-Fi Router is inspired by the original WRT54G iconic blue/black stackable form factor” however it has a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, four removable antennas, instead of three, and eSata and USB 2.0/3.0 connectivity ports.

Four gigabit LAN ports are included. Maximum throughput will be "up to 1.3Gbps on the 5GHz band and up to 600Mpbs on the 2.4GHz band."

The WRT1900AC is also the first Linksys router to include a Network Map feature designed to provide a simpler way of managing settings of each device connected to the network. The $300 might seem a bit steep but Linksys said that was because it was the most powerful router in its class on the market.

Despite what most people want you to believe, Chromecast won't let you play your personal videos and photos. Even with the last update and the Real Player could, it won't play your video from your Android device. Instead it uploads it to the cloud and then plays it from the cloud. It will mirror Netflix that works quite well but, this is where the functionality stops.

Miracast on the other hand, in the form of a USB stick such as new Belkin F7D7501, solves this basic problem. This device mirrors whatever you see on your phone or tablet, all in 1080p resolution. Belkin promises effortless plug-and-play setup and since it's small and compact can be carried around wherever your job takes you. Since it connects on HDMI you need an USB power from your TV, device nearby or an external adaptor, just as you do with a Chromecast stick.

The Belkin F7D7501 Miracast dongle will display movies, photos, games or apps on any HDMI capable monitor or TV set in full HD 1080p resolution. We don’t know the exact range of this particular device but it should work at least up to 10 meters (32 feet). Miracast is built into Windows 8.1 so we expect that this device will work with this one too, making it more versatile.

The downside is the $79.99 price tag and the fact that it needs Android 4.2.x or higher. The latter is Google's fault, as they only added Miracast support in the Android 4.2 specification and therefore any device running an older version of the operating system won't support this screen sharing device.

If it cost half as much, or if it was at least priced between $40 and $50, it would have a chance to take a toll on Chromecast sales. As we implied above, this device will do much more than Chromecast and it will let you play private collection movies, photos or anything you have on your android tablet or a phone.

Cisco's sale of Linksys has been making news ever since the company hired Barclays to help with the sales but the exact buyer was a mystery, at least until today. Belkin has apparently stepped up and struck a deal with Cisco. The deal should be finalized by March this year.

Cisco has been behind Linksys for 10 years as it bought the company back in 2003 for US $500 million. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that it is highly unlikely that Cisco will be getting those US $500 million back due to quite low margins in that part of the home network market.

Cisco has been slowly pulling out of the consumer business and is focusing on big businesses. Existing customers need not worry as Belkin announced that it will maintain the Linksys brand, offer full support for Linksys products and honor all valid warranties.

The companies did not reveal any precise details regarding the actual deal.